The Central Intelligence Agency offered to pay off analysts in order to bury their findings that COVID-19 most likely leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China, new whistleblower testimony to Congress alleges.

A senior-level CIA officer told House committee leaders that his agency tried to pay off six analysts who found SARS-CoV-2 likely originated in a Wuhan lab if they changed their position and said the virus jumped from animals to humans, according to a letter sent Tuesday to CIA Director William Burns. …

“The whistleblower further contends that to come to the eventual public determination of uncertainty, the other six members were given a significant monetary incentive to change their position,” they said, noting that the analysts were “experienced officers with significant scientific expertise.”

(via Twitchy and Disclose.tv)

[Hoo boy. If this is true, then many heads should roll, including and especially at the NIH and NIAID. Why would they do this? One has to suspect that they were trying to shield both agencies from blame for restarting gain-of-function research funding over the objections of other researchers, a move made by Francis Collins with the cooperation of Anthony Fauci. — Ed]